In this, his major work to date , Herbert Clark sets out the thesis that language use is really a form of joint action. A joint action is one that is carried out by an ensemble of people acting in coordination with each other. Language use is thus more than the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners - writers and readers - perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. In contrast to work within the cognitive sciences, which has seen language use as an individual process, and to work within the social sciences, which has seen it as a social process, the author argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes. This book will be essential reading for all students and researchers interested in the ways in which language operates in its human and sori" 1 context.

Using language

Using language HERBERT H . C L A R K

I D epartment of P sy chology , Stanford U niversity

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

cambridge university press

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521567459 © Cambridge University Press 1996 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1996 Sixth printing 2005 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library isbn 978-0-521-56158-7 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-56745-9 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.

Contents

Preface page PART I I

IX

Int roduction L anguage use 3

Foundations Joint activities 29 3 Joint actions 5 9 4 Common g rou n d 92

PART I I

2

Communicative acts 5 M eaning and understanding 125 6 Si gnal ing 155

P ART I I I

L ev els of action 7 Jointprojects J 9 J 8 Grounding 22 1 9 Utterances 253

PAIn I V

P ART

v Discourse

10 I I

12

PARTVI

Jointcommitment 28 9 Conversation 318 Layering 353

Conclusion

13 Conclusion 38 7

R efer ences 393 Tnde xofnames 41 3 Subject index 4 19

Preface

Writing a b ook can be like visiting a famous old city. You arrive with a copy of the Gu ide Michelin and begin touring the recommended sights. But as you walk from one landmark to the ne xt , you d iscover the city beyond the Gu ide. Some features don't have the beauty or authenticity described in the Guide, and others aren't in the Guide at all . In one di strict, you find an exciting new style of architecture, and in another, an exp erim en t in urban ecology . In still another, you come upon a new community of im m ig ran ts , complete with its own markets , restaurants, and religious activities . As you go from place to place, you meet more and more residents, who seduce you into extending your stay. By the time you leave, you realize that the city is just not what you expected . It is richer, more sophisticated, more diverse, and it took your visit to discover that. Writing this book has been just such an experience. I am indebted to many for making it such an exciting, constructi ve, pleasurable, and prolonged experience. I wish to thank a great many collaborators for guiding me through new areas and expanding my horizons: Bridget Bly, Susan Brennan, Sam Buttrick, Stuart Card, Thomas Carlson, Jean Fox Tree, Ellen Francik, Wade French, Richard Gerrig, Ellen Isaacs, Barbara Malt, Catherine Marshall, Daniel Morrow, Gregory Murphy, Gisela Redeker, Edward Schaefer, Michael Schober, Robert Schreuder, Elizabeth Shriberg, Dale Schunk, Vicki Smith, Heather Stark, Elizabeth Wade, Thomas Wasow, Steve Whittaker, Deanna Wilkes-Gibbs. lowe a special debt to Randi Engle, Pim Levelt, Gisela Redeker, and Michael Schober for commenting on an earlier draft of the book and in st igat in g fundamental ch anges in it . I credit Michael Schober with implanting the ideas that delayed th e book the longest. Finally, the book wouldn 't be what it is without Eve Clark, who has been the ideal companion on all my travels . For the preparation of this book , I am indebted financially to the National Science Foundation, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University, and, especially, the Max Planck Institute for Ps ycholinguistics , Nijmegen, the N etherlands.

IX

xI

PR E FA C E

Note on examples

A b ook about language u se wouldn't b e comprehensible w ithout e xa m p les of sp o n ta n eous sp ee ch, so I h a ve a p peale d to authentic ex amples wherev er I could . M os t o f th em are from the London-Lund co r p us, a corpus of British English co nve rsa t io n coll ect ed a n d t ran scribed b y J an S va rtv ik , R andolph Quirk , an d the S urvey of Engl ish Usage at U ni ve rsi ty C o llege L ondon a n d the Surve y of Spoken English at th e U niversi ty o f Lund (Svartvi k an d Qu irk , 1980) .1 I have ide n t ifie d these exam p les b y the ir text numbers (e .g ., 1.1) an d tone u n it numbers (e .g ., 24 5) like this : (I. 1.245) . The original transcripts rep r esent tone units , intonation, o ve rlap p ing speec h , p auses , an d m any o t h er fe atures of sp o n tan eo us co n ve rsat io n . F or readab ility , I h ave retained only so m e of these featu res , as ill u strated here (1.1 .245) : Reynard : Sam : Reynard : Sam:

so it's not until- next year that *the job will be advertised, * *January I supposethere* may be an interview round about January, yeah, - u:m you heard anyth ing about this,. noth ing at all yet, - -

T h is e xam p le co n tai ns the five s pecial sy m b ols : Feature End of tone un it Brief pause (of one light foot) Unit pause (of one stress unit) Overlapp ing speech Elongated vowel

Symbol

*x* *y *

Example yeah, about this, . noth ing until- next year *the job will be advert ised * *Januaryls upposethere* u:m

O verlapping speech, for e xam p le, is rep resented b y two st retches of text e n close d b y p ai rs of as te risk s. Sam 's "J anuary I su p pose the re " ove rlaps wi t h R eynard 's " th e j ob w ill b e adve rt ised." When there m ight b e confu sion , overlap p ing speech is en cl osed in d ouble asterisk s, as in " **yeah**". Speech that was in audible , o r almos t inaudible, to the t r anscriber is encl o sed in double p a renth eses, as in " « 3 or 4 sy lls. ))" or " ((where a re yo u ))". O ther n o ises are e n closed in s ingle p arenthese s, as in "( - s no rt s)" . In exa m p le s cit ed from oth e r investigato rs , I ha ve retained , For ana lyses based o n this corpus , see Erman ( 198 7) , Garn ham , Shi llc ock , Bro w n, M ill , an d C u t ler (198 2), G cluykcns ( [ 992), Orest rorn (1 983) , Stenst ro m ( 198 4), an d S vartvik (19 80 ).

PREFACE

I XI

the original notation, though sometimes in simplified form. On occasion I have highlighted the features of interest in boldface . I t is impossible to write about using language without mentioning the users themselves. In life, these users aren't generic speakers and addressees, but real people, with identities, genders, histories, personalities, and names . I have tried to keep this point in the foreground by giving the people in my examples names - their actual names whenever possible and fictitious names otherwise. The names serve to remind us of the subject matter of th is book - that language is used by individuals at particular times and places for particular purposes.

PART I

Introduction

1 I Language use

Language is used for doing things . People use it in everyday conversation for transacting business, planning meals and vacations, debating politics, gossiping. Teachers use it for instructing students, preachers for preaching to parishioners, and comedians for amusing audiences . Lawyers, judges, juries, and witnesses use it in carrying out trials, diplomats in negotiating treaties, and actors in performing Shakespeare. Novelists, reporters, and scientists rely on the written word to entertain, inform, and persuade. All these are instances of language use - activities in which people do things with language . And language use is what this book is about . The thesis of the book is this: Language use is really a form of joint action . A joint action is one that is carried out by an ensemble of people acting in coordination with each other. As simple examples, think of two people waltzing, paddling a canoe, playing a piano duet, or making love. When Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers waltz, they each move around the ballroom in a special way. But waltzing is different from the sum of their individual actions - imagine Astaire and Rogers doing the same steps but in separate rooms or at separate times . Waltzing is the joint action that emerges as Astaire and Rogers do their individual steps in coordination, as a couple. Doing things with language is likewise different from the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners - or writers and readers - perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. Language usc, therefore, embodies both individual and social processes . Speakers and listeners, writers and readers, must carry out actions as individuals if they are to succeed in their use of language. But they must also work together as participants in the social units I have

3